Friday, October 9, 2009

Business deal turns very sour

Arkansas Business reports that Lewis May, president of Little Rock's May Construction, was arrested on a warrant issued in Virginia over what appears to be a dispute related to payment of subcontractors on construction of a Lowe's store. He was released on a $50,000 bond.

UPDATE: On the jump, a news release from May Construction.

MAY NEWS RELEASE

Date: 10/9/2009Release: ImmediateContact: Lewis May 912-2600

Lewis May of May Construction Company stated this morning that he is filing a civil suit today against Heard Concrete Construction Corporation of Chesapeake, Virginia for malicious prosecution and abuse of the legal process. May is filing the suit after being taken into custody on Wednesday, October 7, 2009. Mr. May was released immediately by Judge Wayne Gruber.The action was related to the claim by Heard Concrete Construction Corporation for alleged non-payment for concrete work on the Lowe’s store in Stafford, Virginia. May Construction was the general contractor. Heard was the concrete sub contractor. Lewis May stated “I am very surprised that a sub contractor would attempt criminal prosecution to collect a disputed claim. Heard’s work on the Lowe’s store was defective and was rejected by Lowe’s. Heard also filed an invalid lien claim which has delayed payment from Lowe’s to May Construction. This matter is already in litigation in Virginia and should be resolved by binding arbitration as required by the contracts. Heard is not entitled to be paid until Heard’s work is corrected and Lowe’s pays May Construction. ““May Construction has been in business for over 75 years. May Construction has suffered financially because of the Lowe’s job in Virginia and the Welspun project at the Little Rock Port. Welspun, an India company, has delayed paying May’s sub contractors resulting in liens being filed. After many months of negotiation with Welspun all the sub contractors have been paid in full by Welspun and the liens were recently released. However, Welspun continues to illegally hold payment due to May Construction. May Construction also intends to file suit against Welspun to collect several hundred thousand dollars. ““The India Company has been difficult to deal with because many of the engineers who were in Little Rock for the beginning of the project have now returned to India, and they have had numerous turnovers in the financial department. They do business differently from American companies. “ “I regret these circumstances have happened but my company will continue to perform work and deal with these issues. Tough times don’t last, but companies like May Construction do last.”

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